IT Updates

Although Antivirus suites including MS Security Essentials, Avira, Avast, Norton AntiVirus etc., help us protect the system from malwares, viruses, spywares, keyloggers and other like potentially harmful programs, sometimes malware infected applications manage to slip through deployed antivirus security cracks and attack the system booting process. In such a case, anti-virus suites can’t identify and remove the infected application/processes unless the you repair the infected system boot sectors, and then boot into Windows to perform the virus removal operation over entire disk. In this post, we will show you how to clean your system from viruses when you can not boot into Windows.

Using Ubuntu Live Disk

Earlier, we brought you guide on how to create a persistent Ubuntu Live USB and then use it to reset Windows 7 admin and standard account password, wipe hard disk data, and recover hard disk data and repair lost partitions. Since Ubuntu Live Disk doesn’t require booting the installed OS to access primary hard drive, we could use it to scan the system for virus infected applications and scripts.
First off, follow the steps mentioned here to create Ubuntu Live Disk. Once done, move to virus-infected PC and change the boot priority option from BIOS menu. All you need is to reboot the system, and press F2, F10, DEL, or other system defined key to enter into BIOS menu. Now, move to boot menu and set External USB/Hard Disk as first boot option. Now, plug-in the Ubuntu Live Disk, save the changes made to BIOS and reboot the system. It will take you to Ubuntu Live boot menu, select Run Ubuntu from this USB option and hit Enter to begin loading Ubuntu OS.
Just like Windows, Ubuntu supports a wide range of anti-virus suites including Avast, Bitdefender, F-PROT antivirus etc, but since Linux based OS are not vulnerable to malwares, virus and like attacks, many users don’t install on their Linux systems. Avast Workstation is available for free, and provides an easy way to scan not only only auxiliary storage mediums, but also the external hard drives. You can download Avast Linux Home Edition (DEB package) from here. Once downloaded, right-click the DEB package, and select Open With Ubuntu Software Center.

It will open Ubuntu Software Center. Now, just click Install to begin installing Avast Linux Home Edition. When installation is completed, close the Ubuntu Software Center.

Before launching avast!, you need to mount the hard disk, which is to be scanned for viruses. For hard drive with multiple partitions, mount the partition where Windows is installed. Click Places on panel, and click the hard disk to mount.

Once you’ve identified the hard drive, move to Applications –> Accessories menu, and select avast! Antivirus.

Before you start the scanning process, you need to update virus definition database; just click Update database to download all the essential virus definitions. Now, enable Selected folders option, and then click Add button.

You will find the hard disk under media folder; expand location with home icon followed by media folder to select the required hard disk/partition folder.

Clicking OK will add the hard disk to scan locations list. Similarly, you can add more locations to the list from different hard disk partitions. When all locations are added, hit Start Scan to begin the virus scanning process. It will open the scan result report after scanning all the specified locations. From Results of last scan window, you can move the files to chest, move or rename them, or delete them from your hard disk via right-click context menu.

Using SARDU (Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility)

When it comes to fixing system issues and scanning hard disks for viruses without booting the OS, SARDU offers a simple, yet powerful environment to perform numerous system repair operations. For those who aren’t familiar with SARDU, it can burn a number of bootable anti-virus suites, system repair utilities and Live Operating Systems on a single USB/CD, letting users perform all the essential operations to fix the issues. Since SARDU has been specifically designed to scan the system for viruses and identify OS boot up issues, you can use it to burn your favorite anti-virus rescue disk (if available) to USB, and then boot it to thoroughly scan the system for viruses and malwares. To begin, create a SARDU disk by following the steps mentioned here. it must be noted that you can choose to add multiple anti-virus utilities to your USB.

Once bootable antivirus utilities are burnt, plug-in the disk into virus infected PC, and open BIOS menu. Now, set External USB/Hard Disk as first boot option and reboot the system after saving changes made to BIOS. It will open SARDU boot menu, containing the selected anti-virus and system repair utilities. If you, for instance, chose to select AVG rescue disk while making SARDU bootable USB, navigate to Menu Antivirus, and then select Boot from AVG.

It will start loading AVG boot disk, and take you to AVG boot menu. Now, select AVG Rescue CD for performing virus scan operations.

When you select the AVG Rescue option, it will start mounting all the partitions. Once done, you will see the main menu, containing options to perform on-demand system scan, view previous scan results, configure anti-virus options and download essential update, run scripts for fixing known issues, change virus database and so on. To perform the virus scan operation, navigate to Scan option, and hit Enter,

It will ask you to select either the volumes or specific directories within the mounted partitions to scan. We recommend selecting all the hard disk partitions in order to find the viruses and malwares. When volumes are selected, it will present the scanning options including scan inside archives, report password protected files, report archive bombs, use heuristics for scanning, scan cookies, recognize hidden extensions etc. To include additional scanning operations, navigate to the option you want to enable and hit Spacebar.

Once done, hit Enter to start the scanning the specified mounted volumes.

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Hopefully, after following above steps, you will be able to completely remove system boot viruses and malware from the PC. If none of above methods work out for you, we recommend using Hiren’s Boot CD to perform boot-sector virus removal operations. You can check out this article to learn more about Hiren’s Boot CD.

Although there are plenty of data monitoring & tracking apps on the Android Market such as Onavo, My Data Manager and Stats etc., not all provide you with estimates of how much money you will be charged for the amount of data that you’ve consumed over a period of time, and that too, in your local currency. This is where Data Detective steps in. Featuring numerous useful data monitoring, controlling and usage tips, graphical analysis of total mobile and Wi-Fi data usage, and detailed breakdown of data usage and cost incurred by individual apps, Data Detective ensures that you know how much you’re spending on mobile internet.

 
When launched for the first time, the app prompts you to specify your local currency, first day of billing cycle, and data subscription plan. Under the subscription settings, the app lets you choose from various subscription types such as Pay as you go, Monthly cap with overage fees, Monthly cap with throttling and Unlimited data plan. If you’ve subscribed to a monthly subscription plan, you need to specify the maximum allotted Quota (in MB or GB). Once all the required information is provided, you’re taken to the app’s homescreen.
 
The homescreen of Data Detective comprises a total of three tabs, namely Quota & Tips, Applications and Totals. To learn the ideal way to keep your data cost and data consumption habits in control, you can hit the Quota & Tips tab, and benefit from the suggestions provided therein.
The Application tab list all the apps as per their data usage. For each app listed, you can check individual counters for its total cost as well as bandwidth consumption (in kB) over Wi-Fi and mobile data. The Totals tab displays a graphical representation of the total data that you’ve sent or received so far over your mobile data plan, Wi-Fi or both. Data is displayed on a pie chart, where the grey and green segments represent the sent and received data respectively.
Tap Menu To filter the information under the Applications and Totals tab according to a defined time period (data usage from last 24 hours, 7 days, the ongoing month or last 30 days).
 
The app’s settings screen (Menu > Settings) can be used to redefine aforementioned subscription settings, and restart the app’s data counters.
Note: Since Data Detective applies user-defined billing values to determine data consumption costs, the estimated values may vary as compared to the actual bill that contains numerous other hidden/service charges.
The app has a free ad-supported version and a paid version without ads that will cost you $1.69 . The links and QR codes provided below will take you to their respective Android Market pages.
Download Data Detective (Free)
Download Data Detective Pro (Paid)

Using the Firewall can help secure a system by blocking unwanted (and potentially malicious) incoming connections. Many users turn off the default Windows firewall due to the number of annoying pop-ups and confusion in configuration that they have to deal with. This is particularly true for the Advanced Firewall in Windows Vista and Windows 7. TinyWall is an easy to use tool that makes it possible for common users to use Windows firewall, without having to deal with any annoying pop-ups, and provides users with the option to whitelist or unblock programs easily. For example, you can initiate connection whitelisting using a hotkey, select an application from the list of running processes, and allows completely enabling/disabling all connections in a click.
TinyWall is basically a simpler configuration tool for Windows Firewall, as it presents you with a minimalist interface and necessary information displayed on the main application window. To get started, launch TinyWall, and click Start to enable the firewall. The main window displays all blocked applications, you can select and allow access to blocked applications.

The system tray menu provides the option to change your monitoring mode (normal protection, block all, allow outgoing, disable firewall and allow LAN traffic), manage advanced firewall settings (e.g., ICMP settings), view connections and select processes, applications and windows to whitelist.

For instance, you can open the running processes to whitelist by selecting them via the Whitelist by process option. The below window displays all blocked processes, which can be enabled by selecting them and clicking the Select button.

Once any configuration changes occur (e.g., when you enable a process), a notification is provided via the system tray.

Despite being a good application for novice and intermediate users who might not have much knowledge about advanced firewall settings, it must be noted that by default TinyWall blocks all browsers at startup, which have to be enabled using a whitelist option from the system tray menu. TinyWall works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Download TinyWall

Previously, we have covered some very powerful collage making applications like CollageIt, Shape Collage and Cas, that let you create a collage of all specified images in different shapes and sizes. Fotowall is an open source collage making tool that lets you make collage arrangements with your pictures, add text, add images directly from internet, adjust stacking, and apply looks and different types of effects to the image both individually and to the whole collage. It allows you to rotate and resize images, as well as apply presets for CD Covers, DVD Covers, Apply Decorations, Set Titles, Add Background and apply Random placement of images in the collage.
The application has a very simple interface, with Add Pictures, Add Text, Add Wordcloud, Add Canvas and Search Web Pictures buttons available in the Add New pane, while the Canvas pane has Screen, Decorations, Background and Arrange drop down menus available. To add pictures, click Add Pictures and select the images of your choice. Then, apply the desired effects, and choose Save button from the top-right corner to save the collage.

Select an image to apply extended settings such as flip it upside down, left to right, and access the extended options menu, allowing you to adjust Stacking, Operations, Looks, Show Reflection, Effects etc.

Fotowall is a portable application, and works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Download Fotowall

Often, while working with a large number of open tabs, we want to save some links to view later, but we don’t want to bookmark these random links either. Page Snooze is a Chrome extension that can help manage tab overload by allowing you to snooze tabs for up to two weeks. These snoozed tabs will then pop back in your browser once the time is up. You can view and manage your snoozed tabs from the Page Snooze options page.
Once you’ve installed the extension, a Page Snooze option is added to the right-click context menu. Whenever you want to snooze a page, click on the button in the toolbar, or simply right-click and select an option from the context-menu. You can Snooze pages from 5 seconds to up to two weeks. As soon as you snooze a page, the tab will instantly disappear, and Page Snooze will automatically open the tab again after the set time is over.

You can manage and view all your snoozed links from the Page Snooze options. Click the (x) buttons to delete individual links, or click the Clear All button to get rid of the entire list.

Snooze Page is perfect for hiding pages for a short period of time, and can especially come in handy when you don’t want to add dozens of links to your bookmarks bar or folders. Additionally, you will never forget to give a look at these links, as the tabs re-appear in your browser when you want them to.
Install Page Snooze For Google Chrome